Shinji's breakfast was a little more elegant than his dinners, but not more complicated: White rice with fresh eggs and toast. The only reason he didnt consider it disappointing was because breakfast was expected to be simple.

Shinji was still self conscious about it. He was aware he was being a little ridiculous being so hung up on making presentable food now, but he couldn't help it.

He was always the first one up in the morning. Misato was usually second, and as expected the older woman made her way into the living room like a zombie and groaned at Shinji.

He smiled at her as he stood in his place before the stove. "Coffee is brewing, breakfast will be ready in five minutes."

Misato moaned an acknowledgement and shuffled her feet into the bathroom. As Shinji worked he noted to himself that Misato seemed out of it more than usual. A late night? He would never know. When he asked about it, her response was usually a thin excuse or teasing Shinji about prying into her private bedroom affairs. It was both alluring and tiring.

Asuka always followed, though it was a roll of the dice on what kind of mood she was in when she appeared. A part of Shinji always braced for the inevitability of a sour or dismissive mood, and based on last night he expected the worst.

When she did appear he was about to sit down with his breakfast. He tried not to stare as the redhead went through the motions of getting food, then sat down beside him.

Shinji was still on alert. Some mornings Asuka emerged full of energy and projected her mood easily. Other times, like this, she was an unexploded bomb. Was it live, or a dud? Shinji wanted to be nice to her, but if he said anything, would that set her off? Even wishing her good morning could create unpredictable results.

So he stayed quiet and respectful.

Misato came out of the bathroom then, spoiling the serenity. "Morning kids!" She chimed as she rounded the kitchen table.

"Good morning." Shinji replied in greeting. Asuka muttered hers in return.

Misato carried on gathering her breakfast as if nothing was wrong. Sitting down at the table she said, "You two are going to be having the house to yourselves today. Before lunch, Doctor Akagi and I are headed down to Tokyo-2 and we'll be down there all day."

Shinji, curious, asked "what are you doing there?" The last time this happened he had to launch in his Eva to save the day.

Misato waved him off. "Its something just for us. It's less for work and more for the two of us to do something together." Frowning, she added, "Both of us are invited to a wedding next week and need to go shopping."

Asuka asked from across the table, "Is Kaji coming with you?"

"No." Misato said flatly, "He's refused my calls, so he's got no part of this."

Asuka stared a little before going back to her food. Shinji asked, "So if there's an attack…"

"The subcommander will handle it." Misato said, then added as she raised her beer can, "If not him, then, your father."

Shinji blinked at the mention of his dad. Though he had been studying his subject because of his father, the small mention of him specifically called up his feelings about the man. In that moment, Shinji wondered if his paper would make a difference after all.

Asuka huffed. "Now you've done it Misato. He's going to get all weepy eyed about his dad now."

That snapped Shinji out of his thinking. "What?"

Asuka held her fork limp in her raised arm, her eyes staring deadpan at him. "You're so obsessed about your dad, Third. Why do you care? It's not like he cares about you."

Shinji shook his head and stared into his bowl. "He brought me here for a reason. He-"

Asuka interrupted him. "Yeah, because he needed you to pilot. He hasn't said two words to you since, has he?"

Shinji tried to think, but couldn't for long before Misato toned, "Asuka?"

"What?"

"Leave him alone."

Asuka pointed her fork at him, "His research paper is all about why he can't understand his dad." She looked at him, "I'm trying to tell you, Third, it's not worth it. Him, his opinion of you," She went back to eating, "Or his approval. Why do you even bother?"

Shinji stared into his bowl. "I… I don't know."

Asuka's level stare remained on him before she sighed, finished her meal, and pushed herself out of her chair. "It's hopeless. I'm done."

As she left the table Asuka said, "Just call me if someone interesting shows up."

Misato and Shinji listened to Asuka go and close her door. Misato spoke first. "Don't take what she says to heart Shinji… I know relationships with parents can be… complicated."

"It's all right." Shinji said and left it at that. After breakfast, he started to clean up the kitchen.

Hikari rose at the crack of dawn. She had a lot to do that morning, as she did every morning.

Getting downstairs she started the stove going for breakfast. Rice cooker on. Fish pulled from the bag, washed, cut, and put on the pan. Eggs would be up next but they were cracked and ready. While she waited for the breakfast things to mature, she lined up everyone's lunches for the day. She had time to prepare them in advance yesterday, so it spared her some time this morning,

Coffee was on, sugar and creamer put into both with stir sticks ready. Her father had the unvarnished brown mug. Her older sister had the porcelain one with the flowers.

All these clockwork motions of the morning allowed Hikari to gradually wake up and become aware of the day. She could hear Kodama in the shower upstairs. Her father was probably taking it easy on the only day he had off in the week.

Today was the day she would tutor Shinji.

That thought gave her momentary pause, but after a nod she analyzed how she was going to fit this into her day. It wasn't hard, though quite a few tasks around the house had been bumped to today, Sunday. This was to accommodate tutoring Shinji and other things during the week. Everything had to be negotiated.

Kettle whistled, coffee was poured. Switch out the fish, clean the pan, prepare the eggs. Rice was ready.

Kodama came down first, dressed in her waitress unit form and holding her bag. "Morning." She greeted Hikari as she grabbed her bento and shoved it into her bag. She started eating her breakfast as she leaned against the wall, holding the plate. "I can't stay long," she said, "Someone published a bad review of our shop yesterday and the manager is looking for someone to fire."

"I… oh." Hikari said.

Kodama, between mouthfuls, said, "One day well have a break. I'm sorry it couldn't be today."

Hikari perked up at her sister's compassion. "You're busy with important work though. School is important, and so is your job."

"Yes." Kodama said and glanced at the clock. She went on, "Good thing it's sunday, otherwise Nozomi wouldn't get to school on time."

Hikari sighed, "She always sleeps in late when she can."

Kodak's finished her coffee. "Im off to work. Enjoy your day Hikari."

That caught the girl off guard. "Oh? Uh, thank you. Good luck!"

Kodama was out the door when Nozomi finally came down, yawning loud. Without saying good morning she grabbed her plate and shuffled into the living room, where she would watch TV as she ate. Hikari stared at her the whole way through, knowing it was useless to shame her sister about anything. Half her responses were to ignore Hikari, and the other half was some variation on, "You're not mom, or dad, or Kodama!"

Hikari was tired of it, but there was no escape. This was her life.

She started to eat her own meal as she waited for her father to appear. When the stairs started to creak Hikari knew he was coming down. Bunzaemon Horaki held his tired stare as he shuffled into the kitchen to collect breakfast. "Morning." The stocky man rumbled.

"Good morning Father." Hikari replied with a bow.

Bunzaemon took his plate and coffee but stopped as he saw the bentos. "Are you going somewhere today?"

"Yes." Hikari nodded, "I'm helping a classmate learn how to cook."

"That german girl? Or is it that jock you don't like?"

"Ah, well, neither actually. Someone new."

"Oh." Bunzaemon said, then not wanting to put more thought into it, continued on his way to the living room. There he would watch and comment upon Nozomi's cartoons until she left the room or retrieved the morning paper for him to read instead.

Hikari finished her breakfast, then went upstairs to take care of her appearance for the day. On a normal school day she would then get ready for the walk to school. Today, she would use that one time to catch up on her studies.

Shinji remembered that the class rep was coming to the apartment a half hour after Misato had left. He wondered if he should call her to tell her but decided to let it drop. On the past she didn't seem phased when Shinji's friends dropped in.

He didn't know how he was going to tell Asuka.

Her mood this morning hadn't improved at all, so he had a hard time thinking about how to approach the news. Maybe Hikari had said something to her by now? Weren't they best friends? Asuka hadn't said anything about it though.

He couldn't make up his mind. Mostly because, unlike Misato, Asuka very much made a big deal of guests coming over. Especially when Shinji's invited them. But this was her best friend, perhaps that would make her happy? But Hikari was coming to help him on his request…

He should have asked Asuka first, he realized. Hikari was Asuka's friend after all, so he did cross a line. But… he wouldn't have expected her to talk to him if, for example, Asuka wanted to speak with (however unlikely) Toji. And the class rep didn't ask Asuka about tutoring Shinji so… what was proper?

How was he going to get out of this?

Shinji had until noon. He put off the decision by doing some homework, then tried to come up with a solution while listening to music in the living room with his eyes closed.

He was aware then of something amiss and peeked his eyes open. He jerked as he saw Asuka standing over him, getting a view up her long legs and past her breasts into her face. She asked flatly, "What are you doing?"

"N-nothing!" Shinji replied and got himself into a sitting position, "Just… listening to music."

Asuka put her hands on her hips. "Are you going to do that all day?"

"N-no…" Shinji replied,"Why? What do you want?"

Asuka sighed. "I'm getting bored. Since you're the only other person here, I might as well do something with you."

Shinji's emotions tumbled. Hikari hadn't told Asuka. Asuka asked him specifically for something to do- a rarity. What should he do with this information? He didn't have time.

"Uh, well," Shinji said as he glanced at the clock. He had two hours until Hikari was due to arrive. "Actually, the class-"

The phone rang. Asuka surprised Shinji by turning to answer the phone. Was it the class rep? In his mind Shinji could see disaster approaching from Asuka learning the class rep was coming here without her knowing. He slowly grew white as a sheet as Asuka crossed the room to the phone and picked it up.

"Katsuragi residence." She said, then sharply inhaled before blasting, "Kaji!! I've been dying to hear from you, where have you been!?"

Shinji was frozen in the living room. Relief came upon him that it wasn't the class rep, but sadness did also. Nothing he could ever do would make her this excited for him.

"Really?! Yes, I'll be ready in a few moments! See you soon!"

Shinji heard the phone click and the thumping of Asuka's feet. "Asuka-" he said half-heartedly, but the girl didn't hear him. She was running to her room with the wild expression of someone possessed. When the door thunked closed he knew it would be impossible to reach her now.

Shinji got up off the floor and went to get a drink, waiting for the inevitable. Kaji arrived within twenty minutes and Shinji let him in.

Kaji was wearing the same unkempt business shirt, loose tie, and casual swagger he always did. "Hi Shinji, it's been a while. How are things?"

"Good." Shinji said simply. For conversation he added, "Miss Misato is out for the day."

"Yeah, I knew. I don't think she's very happy with me right now, but I had some business to take care of from your father."

Shinji hesitated. "Oh." He said.

Kaji shrugged. "My little errand wouldn't stop me from seeing Asuka for once, so I thought I'd take her with me." Kaji considered Shinji and said, "You could come too, if you wanted to get out of the house."

"Err… thank you, but I'm expecting company later."

"Ah." Kaji replied, "Enjoy then. Not often you get the house to yourself."

Asuka came out then, wearing the same short white shorts and a blue crop top she wore yesterday evening. Seeing this stung Shinji with disappointment as he realized… she must have worn the outfit to goad him if she couldn't wear it for Kaji. Even this told him, with her, he would always be second best.

"Okay!" She said, breathy and excited, "Lets go!"

Kaji saluted Shinji on his way out. "Later Ikari, enjoy your company later."

"Bye." Shinji said, eyes tracking the wide-eyed Asuka clinging to Kaji's arm. Not once did she look in Shinji's direction as she clung to Kaji's arm as they left.

After they were gone the house was quiet and still. Shinji sighed again and moved to get more water for his glass. Transported to the same serenity of his Sensei's place, he wondered again if anything had truly changed since those days. He was no closer to understanding anything about his father, and he couldn't say he really counted on anyone here. And the recent disappointment that he would never mean anything to Asuka put his mind in a melancholy mood.

He finished his glass of water then moved off to find something to do to kill time.

Kaji promised the arcades in Yamanashi, but first there were a few mundane stops around town. Asuka waited patiently, accompanying him on some of the shops and other times just waiting in the car. Kaji was filling her in on all the things he had seen on his ventures.

"My Fuji still has its timeless beauty, even in spite of the impacts." Kaji said. "It has never changed as I've grown up."

Asuka sighed. "All these wonderful places you're going without me, Kaji. I wish I could come too, instead of being stuck at Misato's!"

"Someomes gotta keep Shinji company." Kaji replied.

Asuka, disgusted, crossed her arms. "Him? I'd rather fall off my Eva."

Kaji tipped an eyebrow as he side-eyed the girl. "I thought you two were getting along."

"We never got along." Asuka muttered, "If you were over more often, you would see that."

Kaji hid his sigh at her biting remark, and said instead, "Sometimes we need exposure to different people in order to learn how to live. You're never going to find someone which you have no disagreements with on some level."

"Disagreeing over breakfast is one thing. But he and I… there's fundamental, diametric opposition! He's modest to a fault, has no spine, and is literally the most hapless boy on earth!"

"Mmn." Kaji said, "But you've also seen how he can be brave and headstrong. That stunt at Mount Asama to save you was unauthorized, remember."

Asuka fell quiet at first, then said, "He was only doing me a favor. I already paid him back for that."

"Hmm. Transactional then. Is that how you see it?"

"How else am I supposed to take it?" She crossed her arms again as she said, "I don't want to talk about Shinji anymore. Tell me about where you're taking me!"

"Okay." Kaji chuckled as they headed out of town.

Out of the corner of her eye Asuka saw a figure on the sidewalk carrying a pot and some cookware. The face and hair looked familiar, and she wondered if it was Hikari. The car was already moving, and she couldn't see the figure any more as they moved.

Kaji was speaking. In that moment it occurred to her that with Shinji expecting company, would it be Hikari? Perhaps cooking something special, with Shinji?

Before she considered the deeper ramifications of this, she threw it all away. She was finally going to spend an evening with the man she really loved- Ryoji Kaji- and would leave behind the stupid, sad, confusing boy and his hangups. She wanted the company of a real man, one who communicated his intentions clearly.

She allowed herself to get carried away by her crush, and think nothing more about unimportant matters.

a/n: this chapter ended up long so im splitting it into three parts.

of course, fans of eva know hpw wrong Asuka's assumptions of Kaji are, but she doesnt see that. She sees what she wants to see, only Arael opens her eyes in the series.

We are slowly approaching the tipping point for Hikari and Shinji's relationship. They now know one another better, but theres still a piece missing before theyre close enough to consider each other over Asuka. Once that happens, then we start getting into the consequences, and the rest of the fic will take off.

In answer to some of the reviews... Asuka started getting upset when Shinji started getting lessons from Hikari and shooting down Asukas indirect attempts at centering his attention on her. In typical Asuka manner, she expected Shinji to pick up the hints and she has no self reflection to wonder if shes the problem.

Asuka isnt a food connesur as much as she desires a nice meal cooked by a fancy resteraunt. Its comparing fine dining to instant meals. In Shinjis mind, hes hoping a good homecooked meal could be sone kind of substitute, but his skill in this fic is limited to back of the box instructions. Even if he had prepared a nice meal and Asuka liked it, it would be a backhanded complement.

Thanks for reading! This and the next two chapters are the next turning point.